The University of Texas Medical Branch

Search

Study indicates immigrants are not a healthcare cost burden

A recent article in Health Affairs disputes the widely held belief that immigrants place a large financial burden on the U.S. healthcare system. “Trends In Health Care Spending For Immigrants In The United States” examined healthcare spending between 1999 and 2006 for both adult naturalized citizens and immigrant non-citizens, which included some undocumented immigrants. It found that the cost of providing healthcare to immigrants is lower than that of providing care to U.S. natives and that immigrants aren’t contributing disproportionately to high healthcare costs in public programs like Medicaid. UTMB Dr. Karl Eschbach co-authored the study.